Keep Japanese Presence in New York City, Dinkins Urges Leaders in Tokyo

By DAVID E. SANGER,

Published: February 24, 1993

TOKYO, Feb. 23—
At the start of his term, Mayor David N. Dinkins recalled today, he often had to answer critics who complained that the Japanese were buying up New York. This afternoon, walking from office tower to office tower in downtown Tokyo, Mr. Dinkins told Japan's leading bankers and business executives that in the 1990's they should hold on to what they bought.

"It is very clear to me that the Japanese presence in our city is absolutely essential to keeping New York a dynamic, global city of opportunity in the 21st century," he told a group of some of the country's most powerful executives today. And in the face of an unexpectedly severe economic downturn in Japan that is leading many companies to think about selling some of the Manhattan properties they bought in the 1980's, Mr. Dinkins repeated time and again today that "we want you to stay and to grow in our city."

Mr. Dinkins's appeal to Keidanren, the politically powerful organization of Japan's largest businesses, came on the third and most important day of his weeklong tour of Japan. And while he found a largely receptive audience, with companies telling him that they would stick it out, he also heard warnings that philanthropic contributions and expansion plans would be cut back until Tokyo emerges from its economic mire. A Week of Buyouts

In fact, only one major Japanese investor, an auto parts maker, has pulled out of the New York metropolitan region recently, and the New York real-estate executives accompanying the Mayor seemed particularly relieved that no one else was talking about major property sales that could drive the market -- and tax revenues -- down.

Nonetheless, Mr. Dinkins arrived during one of Tokyo's tougher weeks, when business leaders were eliminating unprofitable divisions and buying out workers over 50. Mr. Dinkins did not even try to ask for more Japanese investment in New York City. And wherever the Mayor went, he was peppered with questions about the prospects for President Clinton's economic-recovery package -- Mr. Dinkins said he thought it would bring New York more than $500 million in additional Federal aid -- and whether the new North American Free Trade Agreement would put Japanese businesses at a disadvantage.

But several questioned him on his plans to attack crime, drugs and dirt on the streets of New York, reminding a few people in his entourage that the city's image on Japanese television is still overwhelmingly negative.

"It's quite amazing how many of these executives have lived in New York and regard it as a sort of second home," Deputy Mayor Barry F. Sullivan said as Mr. Dinkins circulated among Japanese executives who were once based in New York. "They know the city well, and they ask tough questions." Tours and Food

Mr. Dinkins himself has spent some time investigating what keeps Tokyo from being overwhelmed by the sheer density of its population: Roughly 30 million people live in the metropolitan area, though only a little more than 8 million in Tokyo's 23 wards. He visited the newly built high-tech skyscraper that houses Tokyo's metropolitan government and, on Monday evening, sat down to a lavish, traditional Japanese meal sponsored by the the city's governor, Shunichi Suzuki. Perhaps fearful that the city had ordered too much food, the governor also invited Akebono, the 470-pound Hawaiian who recently became the first foreigner ever made a grand champion in sumo wrestling.

Mr. Dinkins's main message, he said, was to thank the Japanese for what he called a growing contribution to New York's cultural life and its charities.

"This is a practice that is relatively new to the Japanese," he said, "but it is one which they have taken to with vigor. The fact is that they are becoming some of our best corporate neighbors."

On Wednesday night Mr. Dinkins will take his entourage to Osaka, Japan's second-largest metropolitan area, for two more days of touring and meeting with the business community.